{"id":8829,"date":"2024-10-09T15:16:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T15:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/boki-the-bear-to-have-pioneering-surgery-to-drain-fluid-from-skull-and-stop-seizures\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T15:16:12","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T15:16:12","slug":"boki-the-bear-to-have-pioneering-surgery-to-drain-fluid-from-skull-and-stop-seizures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/09\/boki-the-bear-to-have-pioneering-surgery-to-drain-fluid-from-skull-and-stop-seizures\/","title":{"rendered":"Boki the bear to have pioneering surgery to drain fluid from skull and stop seizures"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young bear born to parents rescued from a Spanish circus will today undergo pioneering brain surgery.<\/p>\n

Boki, a two-year-old European brown bear, has been suffering seizures and vision problems for the last five months.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

MRI scans show he has hydrocephalus, a build up of fluid inside his skull that is putting pressure on his brain.<\/p>\n

It’s a condition that also occurs in humans, affecting one in every 500 births. Other cases can be triggered by illness or injury later in life.<\/p>\n

But it is believed to be rare in animals.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Specialist vets working with the Wildwood Trust, near Canterbury, where Boki lives, will insert a tube in his brain to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure.<\/p>\n

Mark Habben, zoological director at the trust, told Sky News that Boki was “charismatic and a lot of fun” but his condition tends to flare up after bouts of high energy.<\/p>\n

“It impedes his life,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We want him to be able to climb up trees and jump in ponds without suffering negatively from that.”<\/p>\n

The three-hour operation will be carried out by Romain Pizzi, an Edinburgh-based specialist with a reputation for taking on cases that other vets won’t touch.<\/p>\n

He will make a small hole in Boki’s skull and run a tube from inside his brain, then under his skin down to his bladder, where it will drain the excess fluid.<\/p>\n

The vet has carried out the procedure just once before, on an Asiatic black bear in Laos. The surgery was a success, giving the Wildwood Trust confidence it’s the right option for Boki.<\/p>\n

Mr Habben said Boki is also in good physical condition and rapidly putting on weight.<\/p>\n

“If we did not think this would have a happy ending, we would not put him or ourselves through the physical and emotional stress of conducting something like this,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We are very optimistic about it.”<\/p>\n

Boki was born at Port Lympne wildlife park in Kent<\/strong>, where his parents were brought after being rescued. But he was aggressively rejected by his family and was moved to the Wildwood Trust.<\/p>\n

The decision to go ahead with surgery was given extra urgency by Boki’s imminent torpor, a winter dormancy similar to hibernation.<\/p>\n

“Doing it now is the right thing to do because it’s much easier to monitor him,” said Mr Habben.<\/p>\n

“If there is any medication or aftercare he needs, I don’t want him to be asleep for four months to administer that.<\/p>\n

“As he recovers from surgery we will be assessing him on a day-to-day basis to see when he can resume normal life of being a young bear again.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n

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